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Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers was full of praise after 3-0 win over Sunderland

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers was full of compliments after his side's 3-0 hammering of Sunderland at Anfield.

Last Updated: 03/01/13 11:03am

The Reds were two up at the interval thanks to Raheem Sterling and Luis Suarez with the Uruguayan striker adding his second to steer the team up to eighth in the Premier League.

"You've got to give massive credit to the players," Rodgers told Sky Sports. "The effort they put into the game tonight, as well as the quality, was phenomenal.

"They were magnificent. You look throughout the country and there are a lot of tired players and performers having had to play four games in such a short period.

"But you look at the intensity and conditioning of our players tonight and the work they put into the game, married with the quality, was fantastic.

"We played some terrific football against a Sunderland side under Martin O'Neill that have been very difficult to beat.

After a testing few months at the helm, the former Swansea boss expressed his pleasure at the long-term prospects of the club.

"Sometimes you only get credit when you win. For us, we've drawn a lot of games and haven't quite got the credit because we haven't won the game," he added.

"But these players over the course of the season have done very, very well and haven't got the points total we deserve. But I believe in the second half of the season we'll be able to up the tempo and we can kick on.

"You see the nature of our game now - our pressing, the intensity, our pressure, the superiority we're gaining in midfield in order to control games and creating many chances - we had 29 shots against Sunderland.

"It's about consistency and hopefully we can get that over the coming months and years."